A Study On Patterns Of Dyadic Interaction In A Chinese College English Writing Class

The use of dyadic interaction between students in English writing class, i.e., peer response groups, in which students critically read and discuss each others'drafts, is becoming increasingly popular in EFL writing classes. The author of this thesis carried out this teaching method in her class and had a longitudinal research in the class, trying to investigate the nature and patterns of dyadic interaction in the class so as to get a better understanding of the teaching method aiming to improve teaching effects.This study introduced the research in detail, including the conditions of the subjects, the results of questionnaire, research method, data resources and analysis. The study was classroom based. It was conducted in a Chinese EFL writing classes. The researcher taught the class. There are 54 students in the class who are sophomore in a college. Data resources include the results of questionnaires, the transcripts of audio-recorded pair talk during interaction, the first and second drafts of the subjects, and the notes according to the researcher's observation in class. The qualitative analysis methodology was adopted in the analysis of data.With careful study and investigation, the researcher finally identified four patterns of interaction in the class: collaborative, dominant/dominant, dominant/passive and expert/novice. And with further analysis, the researcher found that the four patterns had different conducive effects to the development of English proficiency. The number of instances suggesting"a transfer of knowledge"of the dominant/dominant, dominant/passive patterns is less than that of the collaborative and expert/novice patterns.According to the above mentioned investigation, it can be concluded as follows: 1. There are four patterns of interaction in the college English writing class: collaborative, dominant/dominant, dominant/passive and expert/novice. And judging from the researcher's observation, once the patterns were established, they remained quite stable. 2. The collaborative and expert/novice patterns are more conducive to language learning than the patterns of dominant/dominant, dominant/passive. 3. The attitudes toward dyadic interaction won't affect the patterns of interaction much. What affects the patterns much lies in the partner the subject chooses and the subjects'English proficiency. 4. In order to avoid the students reaching some incorrect consensus on grammar or some other field, the teacher needs to monitor the pair or group work quite carefully and give them suggestions and help when necessary to guarantee the desired direction and output.